Verizon Business steps onto the cloud

Verizon Business moved into the cloud today with availability of its new Computing as a Service Solution in the U.S. and 15 European counties. The offering aims to provide scalable server, network and storage capacity to enterprises and government entities on very short notice to allow them to meet rapid fluctuations in usage.

Joseph Crawford, executive director of product management, said the Verizon solution allows customers to avoid paying for costly products and equipment they may not necessarily need.

"Computing as a Service enables customers to turn up and turn down computing and network components dynamically, providing a predictable way for them to scale their infrastructure," Crawford said. "The service runs on Verizon-developed software, and it was designed with complete transparency, so that the customer has an audit trail of everything we do for their account."

Crawford said the offering is primarily targeted at mid-market enterprises and comparable government entities, but that Verizon has seen interest in the service from both smaller and larger companies as well.

Amy Larsen DeCarlo, principal analyst of managed IT services for research and consulting firm Current Analysis, said she is "pretty bullish" on Verizon's service, despite the breadth of the competition in the cloud computing market.

"A number of other providers have made announcements around cloud computing, but Verizon is in a really good position because they are coming to market with a fully developed solution, rather than just a concept," DeCarlo said. "Verizon's network expertise could position it better than competitors who have mainly a hosting background. Verizon is also one of the top security providers in the world after its CyberTrust acquisition, which might give it credibility with enterprises that are on the fence about doing business in the cloud."

For more:
- see the Verizon press release here [1]